WHIFFLERS.' Ancient name for fifers; also persons at the

universities who examine candidates for degrees. A whif.

tling cur, a small yelping cur.
WHIMPER, or WHINDLE. A low cry.
To Whine. To complain.
WHINYARD. A sword.
TO WHIP THE Cock. A piece of sport practised at wakes,

horse-races, and fairs in Leicestershire: a cock being tied
or fastened into a hat or basket, half a dozen carters
blindfolded, and armięd with their cart whips, are placed
round it, who, after being turned thrice about, begin to
whip the cock, which if any one strikes so as to make it
cry out, it becomes his property; the joke is, that instead

of whipping the cock they flog each other heartily.
WHIP JACKS. The tenth order of the canting crew, rogues

who having learned a few sea terms, beg with counterfeit
passes, pretending to be sailors shipwrecked on the neigh-
bouring coast, and on their way to the port from whence

they sailed.
To WHIP OFF. To run away, to drink off greedily, to

snatch. He whipped away from home, went to the ale-
house, where he whipped off a full tankard, and coming

back whipped off a fellow's hat from his head,
WIP-BELLY VENGEANCE, or pinch-gut vengeance, of

which he that gets the most has the worst share. Weak

or sour beer.
WHIPPER-SNAPPER. A diminutive fellow.
WHIPSIHIRE.

Yorkshire.
WHIPSTER. A sharp or subtle fellow.
Whet SYLLABUB. A flimsy, frothy discourse or treatise,

without solidity.
WHIRLYGIGs. Testicles.
WHISKER. A great lie.
WHISKER SPLITTER. A man of intrigue.
WHISKIN. A shallow brown drinking bowl.
Whisky. A malt spirit much drank in Ireland and Scot-

land; also a one-horse chaise. See TIM WHISKY.
Whistle. The throat. To wet one's whistle; to drink.
WHISTLING SHOP. Rooms in the King's Bench and Fleet

prison where drams are privately sold.
Wuit. [i. e. Whittington's.] Newgate. Cant.---Five rum-

padders are rubbed in the darkmaus out of the whit, and
are piked into the deuseaville; five highwaymen broke out
of Newgate in the night, and are gone into the country.
WHITE RIBEIN. Gin.
WHITE FEATHER. He has a white feather; he is a coward :

an allusion to a game cock, where having a white feather
is a proof he is not of the true game breed. WHITE-

WHS TI-LIVERET. Cowardly, malicious.
WHITE LIE. A harmless lie, one not told with a malicious

intent, a lie told to reconcile people at variance. WHITE SERJEANT. A man fetched from the tavern or ale

house by his wife, is said to be arrested by the white serjeant. WHITE SWELLING. A woman big with child is said to have

a white swelling. WHITE TAPE. Geneva. WHITE WOOL. Geneva. WHITECHAPEL. Whitechapel portion ; two smocks, and

what nature gave. Whitechapel breed ; fat, ragged, and saucy : see St. (ILES's BREED.

Whitechapel beau; one who dresses with a needle and thread, and undresses with a knife. To play at whist Whitechapel fashion ;

i. e. aces and kings first. WHITEWASHED. One who has taken the benefit of an act

of insolvency, to defraud his creditors, is said to have been

whitewashed. WHITFIELITE. A follower of George Whitfield, a Method

ist. WHITHER-GO-YE. A wife: wives being sometimes apt to

question their’husbands whither they are going. WHUTTINGTON'S COLLEGE. Newgate: built or repaired by

the famous lord mayor of that name. Whore's Bird. A debauched fellow, the largest of all birds.

He sings more like a whore’s bird than a canary bird; said"

of one who has a strong manly voice. WHORE's Curse. A piece of gold coin, value tive shillings

and three pence, frequently given to women of the town by such as professed always to give gold, and who before the introduction of those pieces always gave half a guinea. WHORE'S KUTLING, or VORE's Son. A bastard. WHORE-MONGER. A man that keeps more than one mistress.

A country gentlemani, who kept a female friend, being reproved by the parson of the parish, and styled a whoremonger, asked the

parson whether he had a cheese in his house; and being answered in the affirmative, Pray,' says he,' does that one cheese make you a cheese-mon

ger?' WUORE PIPE Thc penis. Wow BALL. A mill-maid. from their frequent use of the

word whow, to make the cow stand still in milking. Ball

is the supposed name of the cow. WIBBLE.. Bad drink. WIBLING'S WITCH. The four of clubs: from one James

Wib

1

2

WIFE.

Wibling, who in the reign of King James I. grew rich by private gaming, and was commonly observed to have that

card, and never to lose a game but when he had it not. WICKET. A casement; also a little door. Widow's WEEDS, Mourning clothes of a peculiar fashion,

denoting her state. A grass widow; a discarded mistress,
A widow bewitched; a woman whose husband is abroad,
and said, but not certainly known, to be dead.

A fetter fixed to one leg.
WIFE IN WATER COLOURS. A mistress, or concubine;

water colours being like their engagements, easily etfaced,

or dissolved.
WIGANNOWNS. A man wearing a large wig.
WIGSBy Mr. Wigsby; a man wearing a wig.
Wild Rogues. Rogues trained up to stealing from their

cradles.
WILD SQUIRT. A looseness.
WILD-GOOSE Chase. A tedious uncertain pursuit, like the

following a flock of wild geese, who are remarkably shy. WILLING TIT. A free horse, or a coming girl. Willow. Poor, and of no reputation. To wear the willow;

to be abandoned by a lover or mistress. WIN. A penny. To Win. To steal. The cull has won a couple of rum

glimsticks; the fellow has stolen a pair of fine candlesticks. WIND. To raise the wind; to procure mony. WINDER. Transportation for life. The blowen has napped

a winder for a litt; the wench is transported for life for

stealing in a shop. WIND-MILL. The fundament. She has no fortune but

lier mills; i. e. she has nothing but her **** and a* se. WINDFALL. A legacy, or any accidental accession of pro

perty.
WINDMILLS IN THE HEAD. Foolish projects.
WINDOW PEEPER. A collector of the window tax.
WINDWARD Passage. One who uses or navigates the

windward passage; a sodomite.
Windy. Foolish. A windy fellow; a simple fellow.
WINK. To tip one the wiok; to give a signal by winking
WINNINGS. Plunder, goods, or money acquired by theft.
WINTER CRICKET. A taylor.
WINTER's Day. He is like a winter's day, short and dirty.
Wipe. A blow, or reproach. I'll give you a wipe on the

chops. That story gave him a fine wipe. Also a hand

the eye.

4

WOO WIPER DRAWER. A pickpocket, one who steals handker

chiefs. He drew a broad, narrow, cam, or specked wiper; he picked a pocket of a broad, narrow, cambrick, or co

loured handkerchief. To WIREDRAW. To lengthen dut or extend any book, let.

ter, or discourse. WISE: As wise as Waltham's calf, that ran nine miles to

suck a bull. WISE MEN OF GOTHAM. Gotham is a village in Notting

hamshire; its magistrates are said to have attempted to hedge in a cuckow; a bush, called the cuckow's bush, is still shewn in support of the tradition. A thousand other

ridiculous stories are told of the men of Gotham. WISEACRE. A foolish conceited fellow. WISEACRE'S HALL. Gresham college. Wit. He has as much wit as three folks, two fools and a

madman. WITCHER. Silver. Witcher bubber; a silver bowl. Wit

cher tilter; a silver-hilted sword. Witcher cully; a sil

versmith. To W OBBLE. To boil.

To boil. Pot wobbler; one who boils a pot. WOLF IN THE BREAST. An extraordinary mode of impo

sition, sometimes practised in the country by strolling women, who have the knack of counterfeiting extreme pain, pretending to have a small animal called a wolf in

their breasts, which is continually gnawing them. WOLF IN THE STOMACH. A monstrous or canine appetite. Woon. In a wood; bewildered, in a maze, in a peck of

troubles, puzzled, or at a loss what course to take in any business. To look over the wood; to ascend the pulpit, to preach : I shall look over the wood at St. James's on Sunday next. To look through the wood; to stand in the pillory. Up to the arms in wood; in the pillory. WOOD PECKER. A bystander, wlio bets whilst another

plays. Woodcock. A taylor with a long bill. Wooden HABEAS. A coffin. A man who dies in prison is

said to go out with a wooden habeas. He went out with

a wooden habeas; i. e. his coffin. WOODEN Spoon. (Cambridge.) The last junior optime.

See WRANGLER, Optime. WOODEN HORSE. To ride the wooden horse was a military

punishment formerly in use. This horse consisted of two or more planks about eight feet long, fixed together so as to form a sharp ridge or angle, which answered to the

body

1

W RA
body of the horse. It was supported by four posts, about
six feet long, for legs. A head, neck, and tail, rudely cut
in wood, were added, which completed the appearance of
a horse. On this sharp ridge delinquents were mounted,
with their hands tied behind them; and to steady them
(as it was said), and lest the horse should kick them off,
one or more firelocks were tied to each leg. In this situ-
ation they were sometimes condemned to sit an hour or
two; but at length it having been found to injure the
soldiers materially, and sometimes to rupture them, it was
left off about the time of the accession of King George I.
A wooden horse was standing in the Parade at Portsmouth

as late as the year 1950.
WOODEN Rurf. The pillory. See NORWAY NECKCLOTH.
WOODEN SURTOUT. A coftin.
WOMAN OF THE Town, or WOMAN OF PLEASURE. A

prostitute.
WOMAN AND HER HUSBAND. A married couple, where

the woman is bigger than her husband. WOMAN'S CONSCIENCE. Never satisfied. WOMAN OF ALL Work. Sometimes applied to a female

servant, who refuses none of her master's commands. WOOLBIRD. A sheep. Cant. WOOL GATHERING. Your wits are gone a wool gather

ing; saying to an absent man, one in a reverie, or absorb."

ed in thought. WOOLLEY CROwn. A soft-headed fellow. WORD GRUBBERS. Verbal critics, and also persons who

use hard words in common discourse. WORD PECKER. A punster, one who plays upon words. WORD OF MOUTH. To drink by word of mouth, i. e. out

of the bowl or bottle instead of a glass. WORLD. All the world and his wife: every body, a great

company. Worm. To worm out; to obtain the knowledge of a se.

cret by craft, also to underinine or supplant. He is gone to the diet of worms; he is dead and buried, or gone to Rot.

hisbone. WRANGLERS. At Cambridge the first class (generally of

twelve) at the annual examination for a degree. There are three classes of honours, wranglers, senior optimes, and junior optimes. Wranglers are said to be born with golden spoons in their mouths, the senior optimes with silver, and the junior with leaden ones. The last junior optime is called the wooden spoon. Those who are not qualified for honors are either in the Gulf (that is, merito